French toilets.

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The last time we were in France, one of the campsites had 2 British style toilets and 3 holes in the floor type.
The site was packed and the French used to queue for the holes in the floor toilets and ignore the British style ones (without seats of course)

And the holes in the floor type didn't half pen and ink.

What's that all about?
 
This is like Americans.

In the casino they have US roulette wheels with 0 and 00. Some casinos also offer the European wheels with just 0.

All the wheels will lose you money in the long run, but the double 0 US wheels have twice the odds against you so you'll lose your money twice as fast. Guess what... the US punters are queuing up up to gamble on the double 0 wheels, while the European wheels are relatively unused.

People like what they know!
 
I think the French have moved on. I have stayed in four different camp sites and all had UK style loos only the site in Paris had one cubicle with a stand over. I would say that a stand over is not a problem its just different. Last site I stayed on was a Yelloh site out from Caen and they were 5* kept absolutely spotless
 
if they're like the ones on the motorway aires,it'll be for the sheer excitement of seeing if you can drop 'em,do the deed and get 'em back up and leg it before the whole room flushes leaving you crouched with your trousers round your ankles in 4 inches of liquid merde. as my wife discovered,to my joy !
 
talking of bogs,do you know the dutch ones? they have a shelf where whatever you deposit can be checked for quality and consistency before being sent on its way...mmmm lekker
 
n brown said:
if they're like the ones on the motorway aires,it'll be for the sheer excitement of seeing if you can drop 'em,do the deed and get 'em back up and leg it before the whole room flushes leaving you crouched with your trousers round your ankles in 4 inches of liquid merde. as my wife discovered,to my joy !
Click to expand...

My wife was horrified after her first visit to Le hole in the floor.

It was her first trip to France she had always had package holidays until she met me. (boy did I show her what roughing it was) and she could not believe we were actually supposed to use them. I just could not stop laughing at her.

She is still wary as she peeps around the door.

In one place she went to the toilets and came straight back out red faced. It was her first encounter with a mixed toilet. lol
 
n brown said:
talking of bogs,do you know the dutch ones? they have a shelf where whatever you deposit can be checked for quality and consistency before being sent on its way...mmmm lekker
Click to expand...

One for the wife to look forward to the. lol
 
Have your tried some Belgium ones where the toilet seat rotates through a little cleaning house leaving it sparkling fresh after each use?!
 
Firefox said:
Have your tried some Belgium ones where the toilet seat rotates through a little cleaning house leaving it sparkling fresh after each use?!
Click to expand...

No firefox but they sound orgasmic.

Wait til I tell the Missus, I expect she'll wana go to Belgium next. lol
 
With the hole-in-the-floor arrangement, it makes me appreciate my washable Crocs that much more!

And while we're on the subject of public 'johns', the cubicles in the USA have a 2-3" gap all around the door and a 12" gap at the bottom. Privacy? Zero
 
In the Northern Territory, Australia, the norm in the sixties was toilets without doors. The al fresco lifestyle was everything.

Asia and Africa used to be pretty rough in the loo department. In Afghanistan it was difficult to tell the loo from the shower/washing place. You definitely need a specially-dedicated pair of washable flipflops for visiting these places. The old sarong is a handy bit of kit for flitting to and fro.


My daughter, who is married to a Frenchman and lives / has lived in several parts of France, says their toilets are diabolical ( the female ones, where they have them). Not a bit of wonder they invented the bidet, or maybe they didn't?

My son, who lived in Japan, said theirs were very good there. The thing was like a capsule, where you had a shower after using the pan. Everything got washed down in the process and hot air driers came on to dry you.
No need for paper or towels. All squeeky clean.

In the US the lavs can be as rough as any in a typical British or Irish pub. Mexico was rough.

When I was in Malaya, they still had the outside "jamban". Workers collected the old pot and carried it to a cart for tipping. Many's the time I've been up early and been startled by the guy collecting the pot from without!
That was years ago.

Most racecourses around the Western world have toilets that come under great pressure from revellers. The standard drops markedly as the revelling increases.

In UK, I find those pubs that have the toilets upstairs usually have the cleanest. Some Yates may be an exception.

Bookie's shops are generally rough in the facilities department, but some customers seem to like it like that, as they're the ones who make the mess.

Happy camping!

sean rua.
 
Bongo said:
With the hole-in-the-floor arrangement, it makes me appreciate my washable Crocs that much more!

And while we're on the subject of public 'johns', the cubicles in the USA have a 2-3" gap all around the door and a 12" gap at the bottom. Privacy? Zero
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the gap around the door appeared when they had to widen all the cubicles to allow for the larger yank
 
one of my favourite boozers was a cider house on the bayswater road,which had 2 large barrels,sweet and rough,behind a crude bar.it employed 2 big guys i thought were bouncers,but their job was to help you down a spiral staircase to the loo,hold you up if needed and back up again.at closing time,any unconcious people were carried out and laid gently on the pavement.real gents
 
another great tip by "zipnolan"..... go to ebay and search "radar key" these you can use in the UK and Europe, nice clean and private and a place to empty your cassette toilet on the motorway's, cost's approx...£1:50.

Incase you didn't know these keys are for the locked handicapped toilets found on motorway services/points of interest all over Europe and the UK, cheating a little but always leave as clean as you find ...simple.

or even cheaper go to ... www.onlinekeycutting.com
 
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French stand over toilets are great for disposing of the cassette contents into.

John
 
Actually, according to some doctors, the old "Squat toilet" is more healthy both from a postural stance and because their is no contact with a dirty old seat.

Also, the Asian way of washing your bum/privates after using the loo has gotta be cleaner than our way of rubbing and smearing with paper.

The problem is our attire. Those old sarongs and dibdashas ( sorry about the spelling: I expect it's wrong) are soon removed and kept out of harm's way.
That said, though the intentions are good ( hygiene in hot countries) the actual practice can leave a lot to be desired.
We used to enjoy watching naked, bathing beaties in the rivers in Bali, but when you remember that this water also acts as the drain and sewer, it's not quite so idyllic.

I always wonder about the Ganges. Most of the floating funeral pyres that I ever saw seemed to burn out long before the remains were completely cremated. Again, the idea is basically good, but its execution may not be up to scratch.

Basically, water must be the best universal cleaner going, but if it's not "clean" in the first place, then waterborne disease can spread fast.

I'm as rough as bags, but I'm very particular about what water I drink or use for washing food. From what little i've seen, the French are not as fussy as the English, when it comes to certain aspects of cleanliness. The most fussy in Europe are the Germans and Scandinavians, in my experience.

sean rua.

ps

the prejudice against the "left hand" stems from the fact that this is the "dung hand" ( used with water not paper). As a left-hander, I can say that I got some queer looks when I first went into a moslem country ( Turkey). I must have offended scores of people right across the place!

Also, it is rude in the Middle East to show folk the soles of your feet. When you know the state of those old squat toilets, you'll know why! :)
 
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I wll never be able to look a left hander in the eye again.
 
I have two notable experiences with French WC's. Once in the middle of a French bus station I used one of those free standing, stainless steel jobs, now common over here too, I put my Francs in the slot, the door opened, I entered, door closed, I sat down and suddenly the door opened, there was a bunch of folks at the bus stand looking at me!!. Another Loo I visited was a unisex one with a large elderly French lady sitting on a chair in the doorway, I put 2F in her box, she gave me 2 squares of toilet paper!!.
 
sean rua said:
Actually, according to some doctors, the old "Squat toilet" is more healthy both from a postural stance and because their is no contact with a dirty old seat.

Also, the Asian way of washing your bum/privates after using the loo has gotta be cleaner than our way of rubbing and smearing with paper.
Click to expand...

The only real problem is when you have bad knees and try to use the squat type, Sean. Even the Romans had seats and continuous flush toilets (Housteads on the Roman Wall). They were good for keeping up with the camp gosip as they were multiseaters with no doors.

Each soldier carried a sponge and washed his bits from a communal flowing water trough. Hence the insult of the soldier offering a drink from his sponge to Jusus on Calvary.

Personally I prefer to wash rather than use reams of toilet paper and I carry a portable bidet that fits into the cassette toilet seat aperture.

John
 
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